OldJJman

Rob and Elissa told us about the best place to see the harbor. It was a place called the "Avenue of the Stars". (Think, Hollywood Walk of Fame, with a better view!) It was a great place to visit, giving some really great views. They also had a harbor light show spectacular featuring all of the buildings. Joey and I would come back later on that evening to check it out. Anyway, this day continues... Our wonderful HKDL Hollywood Hotel. So ended the day, and this update. Next up: Day 2 in Hong Kong, Macau and the insane TPR members on (and off) tha Macau tower. Thanks for looking. Ten minutes after 9pm, and 7-11 is already closed. =( Time to head back to the hotel. The following pics were all taken during the "Harbor Light Spectacular". I think that Joey and I stayed there about 5 minutes once it started. Kinda boring. The Hong Kong rail system was very easy to understand! Hi Chuck! Not too crowded. Still a bit of British influence in Hong Kong. i do believe that this is the Disney train. The station was pretty cool! Inside the train station - The world's smallest "7-11" The train station was right next to the entrance to HKDL. At this point we headed back to the hotel, but would come back later by train. The "bank" building from "The Dark Knight". And, of course, the number one money making movie star of all time, Jackie Chan. Seriously. Chow Yun Fat (Is he really that popular?) Jet Li There were tons of stars for people I've never heard of (not surprising). This is Bruce's. One of the very few statues on the "Avenue of the Stars" was that of Bruce Lee. If you like architecture and tall buildings, Hong Kong is paradise!

Continues with us walking through a couple of the aquariums. They were proud of the Olympics all over the country! Next up: Avenue of the Stars and some of Hong Kong Harbor. On the way back into HK, we passed a massive dead people farm. Time to say goodbye to Ocean Park. Life must be tough. Strange sponsorship. Time to go see farting Pandas. Squid anyone?? It got kind of steep in places! Oh crap! Had to do this again! "Sea Jelly" or ejaculate under a microscope? You decide. Which way do we go Wilbur? Which way do we go? Pretty cool! Seriously! Walkway to the "Sea Jelly" aquarium. "Hi! My name is Bruce!" You cannot cross a fish, an elephant and a kangaroo! This is what happens when experiments go wrong. Sea horsies. This, is not. This is how you hide so you don't end up broiled on a stick.

More... Evidently, the Chinese had the original coat hanger bronzed for all to see. More soon. Somehow, I can't imagine that the short train would have been anymore comfortable. No problem! The end couldn't come soon enough! Oh this is gonna be pleasant. NOT! They didn't even work the kinks out of the coat hanger first! Not one of Ron Toomer's finest. Translated: The Dragon will crush your spleen, torture your ears, turn your brains to mush, and possibly cause bodily harm. Notice how KT closes her legs when the Jew gets too close! Early artist's conception. We passed a fresh fish restaurant along the way. Time to head over to the "other" back of the park, where a majority of the ride were. It had some great elevation changes too. Can you spot the airtime hill? I knew you could. I have to agree with Robb. This probably has a better view than Tibadabo. Lift hill shot. Despite the helix, it was still a pretty good ride. Wild West Mine Train. Check. Seeing this in person quickly reminded me of the unfinished Dragon Mountain. We headed to the back of back of the park, to ride the mine train, where the views were just as spectacular!

Day 9 Hong Kong and Ocean Park We arrived in Hong Kong the previous night and we were staying at the fabulous HKDL Hollywood Hotel. Now, I knew really nothing about Hong Kong, except that everything is made there. I had no idea that HK is made up of many different islands and had lots and lots of people of people there. Let's go into Hong Kong..... Hi Chuck!! More pics shortly. Yee-haw! Terra Firma!! One way or the other, the end was near! But, really sucky. But, a great view. They were also fairly sucky. Though I had to admit, the view from the cable cars were spectacular! Apparently, one of the Giant Pandas had too much bamboo, farted, and completely destroyed the whole front side of the park. Time to take one of these contraptions over the hills to the "rides" area of the park. (BTW - Oh f'n joy!) Oh f'n joy. One of my favorite kind of rides. =( Well, forget them! We're heading into Ocean Park. They're probably already at work here in the business district. Seriously. Where are they? All these millions of people and.... Where the hell are they?? Their graffiti is so much superior to ours! Anybody need a coffin?? We go that-a-way! Crapola! Lots more, and we weren't even heading that direction. One of the many cool bridges we would cross. Our drive into HK was quite scenic. Those are some of the 100's of apt building scattered about.

Fixed!

Yee-Frickin-Haw!! I didn't need the credits that bad anyway!! JJ (Along with the others on here celebrating the "We told you so" moment!!)

8/10 Not too nerdy!

Yes. Both Korea and Tokyo. I just need to finish this one first. JJ

As per usual, ACE probably won't even tell anyone about this until after they've got your money. Lord knows that they'll probably break this news in ACE news, sometime in March '09.

I personally love the "Terminator" theme!! I've gotten real tired of all of the "super-hero" crap anyway. In my book, the latest GCI's are pretty cool!! Having ridden all of them except EK, I really enjoy them. OzCat, Troy, and KR are cream of the crop. (Especially OzCat!! At only 2600' also!) Thunderhead, Renegade and even Thunderbird are still good rides. Bring it on! JJ

Day 8 (still!) and Donghu Park. Donghu was a nice city park at the other end of Shenzhen. So the sun sets on the 8th day. Tonight we'd transfer over to Hong Kong, and those pictures will be up in a few days. Thanks for looking. JJ Bob may be smiling now, but in about 3 minutes, he ate it BIG TIME!! But, the absolute hit of the day was the ginormous alpine slide! They even had a powered coaster for the biggest credit whores! Though it did have the spinning mouse, and the Disk-O, it was mostly a children's park. We actually attracted a crowd. Our credit awaits! (Notice the cop is first in line. Again.) Evidently, Donghu was a peaceful place. Not the first overloaded bicycle we saw on the trip! Along the drive to Donghu, there were some cool buildings.

Yup. Still HV Shenzhen... Hey, I found it to be quite a photogenic park. Deal with it. I'll leave you with this shot of the SBNO "Over Water Roller Coaster" Coming up: Donghu Park Yes Chris, it's a real space shuttle! Surprisingly, the coaster was smooth and quite intense! I liked it a lot! Even I had plenty of legroom. I'll ride with a Jew. I'm not racist. Rich and Miles demonstrate the enormous leg room on the "Double Loop Roller Coaster". (I swear, Cedar Fair MUST have a Chinese division!) For a coaster that "supposedly" opened in 2006, the modern station themeing didn't really work. We decided to pass on the log flume. Apparently, the park had seen better days. Plastic wildlife. Next up for us was Honey Lake Park. Evidently, it has themed lands and model architecture from around the world. On our way to Honey Lake Park, we passed the other park in the area, Window of the World" (no coasters there). Leaving the park. Nothing says you had a good time like buying your child a machine gun from Happy Valley Shenzhen! They also had a very nice looking train. But, it was an upcharge attraction. The outdoor portion. Guarded by BUGS! The "Magic Castle" area of the park had both indoor (air conditioned!) and outdoor areas. Their splash battle ride. For Scott. This was actually a city monorail that went over to another park in the area, called "Window of the World".

Still HV Shenzhen... Evidently, the ProgPower shows have been moved to China. More soon. Wandering thru the kiddy area. The two Leo's waiting their turn. As usual, Elissa is having an "orgiastic" experience! Carol, with Robb getting his POV. "Young" Jeff and Ginny on the spinning mouse. Your standard "Wacky Worm" on top of a building. First up was the Joey..I mean "Baby Coaster". LOOKY! Two more credits!! Another beautiful carousel. Shrubbery bugs. Oh effen joy. Evidently, this was the pick axe used to dig out "Heaven's Crack". Mailman. Post Office. Get it? Whatever. It may look nice, but it still sucks! It didn't help. So now, Elissa and I now know how to officially ride an SLC. Somehow, the others in front of us weren't subjected to the "How to Ride an SLC" training class. Only this one you put out the fire on a crashed plane. Yeah. While Elissa and I tried to catch up to the others at the SLC, we passed one of those "Fire Academy" attractions that you'd find at Legolands.

Still at Happy Valley Shenzhen... I don't think that these goobers know. More soon. It's gotta be up there somewhere. Heaven's Crack. Otay Banky. Yummy! (Gag, ack, barf!) Due to the "KT swap", I got to ride with my favorite credit whoring partner! Artsy shot. Evidently, mine trains have a strange effect on Rob and Mike. EXCEPT "Hard Rock Park", which couldn't afford to theme theirs. Whatever. It's just like every other standard Vekoma mine train in the world... After all, we don't want to miss the obvious! A couple of signs for Chris. It's your standard Vekoma mine train. Aha! Found it! That's a bunch of bull! "Western" themeing. We had a way to go to get to the mine train. I did like the park's banners.

Day 8 - Happy Valley Shenzhen, Honey Lake and Donghu Parks. Enough chit-chat. Enjoy the pictures. I imagine the only way Christopher Lloyd could be funny, would be in Chinese! More soon. I like how the side of a nearby apartment building, facing the park, was painted. Like HV Beijing, they had a stupid staggered opening policy! We saw quite a few closed rides on the way back to the mine train. Where do we go now? Great. More bugs. Park entrance. They were celebrating their 10th year of operation. While walking to the entrance, we saw a big-a$$ snail! Entrance plaza to Happy Valley Shenzhen. I think we need to be over a couple of lanes. On our way to Happy Valley Shenzhen. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? OK. So where are the trains? The largest train station in Shenzhen was right across the street. Our final night on the mainland was spent at the wonderful "Shenzhen Shangri-La hotel.

After being rained out yesterday, we managed to make it back to the South China Mall. Trust me, Robb and Elissa continue to work their magic. Hooray for bonus credits!! One last look at the park at South China Mall. That was the end of this day and the end of this PTR. Next up: 3 parks in a day: Happy Valley Shenzhen, Honey Lake and Donghu. Thanks for reading! JJ At least one place in the world has an economy worse than the USA. Two double cheeseburgers, large fries and large coke, about $4.20 US. Yes, I counted this one too. Why - I'll even take POV for all of the TPR faithful!! I'm so "sad and pathetic" that I'll count this one. Credit or not? You decide. Some counted this as a credit. I didn't. Elissa gets to ride with the king of whoredom, Richard. It was a fairly descent, long ride. I couldn't help but laugh when a random Chinese girl jumped in with me! Credit whores ahoy!! The roller skater went outdoors as well. Flume ride. Obviously, a Confucius saying. One that I will never understand. Drop tower. It was kind of a nice indoor/outdoor park. At least there was a KFC and a Mickey D's, so we wouldn't starve! Even Godzilla was part of the sign for the South China Mall.

Our second park of the day, Pearl Land. OK. We're outta here. Next stop, the South China Mall. Pearl Land's signature fountain. What's shop? No pearl necklaces, no pearls. Just junk. But it did have a/c. This ride just screamed pain! Nothing spells excitement like a helix before the first drop. Whatever. Pretty aptly named! A long, stupid walk-thru, with ONE great gag at the end. They even let the frumpy little Jew ride without an adult! Meanwhile, Elissa's had another "orgiastic" experience! Leo looks like he's giving up. He's had enough. Or is it called ...??? Next up... Sign of quality. Challenger. No, not a Space Shuttle, but a Chinese frisbee rip-off. It had such a complex layout! Lift hill POV. Said Kiddy Coaster. Oooo! Kiddy coaster! It even had a second tunnel!! But, it did go on forever! And a tunnel! It actually had a pop of airtime! "The" had the latest in OTSR. I guess the name of this coaster is "The". Random steam engine. It looks like it was used for photo ops. Whatever. Wimpy, posing with some statue. Pearl Land was more like a city park, with rides randomly scattered about. Entrance

... continued. I leave you with the Robb fantasy statue! Pearl Land coming up later! Thanks for looking. Nice view. Virtual reality, or stupid senses. A couple more shots of Skycar. Steve, Rich and Miles on the flume. Overlooking the entrance plaza. A couple of things from IOA's makeover has already made it to China. TTTTT! (Topple Tower thru the trees.) The farther away we got from the Screaming Squirrel, the better it looked! Splashdown ride.

...continued Time to go explore the rest of the park. More soon. Why? Why? Why? Why? OH WHY? Oh. My. Fu*^$#*^@. GAWD! OUCH! Nice. ... repeat. Very boring, and quite painful! ... rinse ... Upside down. Up on top. Kind of a steep lift hill. It "looked" interesting. Next up was the death trap. (aka; Screaming Squirrel) Not too tall either. Coaster porn. Hi Derek! Zoom, zoom! Station and launch track. Cute little Intamin trains. First stop: the Intamin launched "Skycar"

Day 7 Today we visited Mysterious Island and Pearl Land. We even managed to make a return trip to The South China Mall for some bonus credits! Take a look! House of Booty!! More pics shortly. House of Booty? Passing thru various parts of the park on our way to "Skycar" It looked to be nicely taken care of. Lots of palm tress for those that like those sort of things. Mysterious Island. (Does this qualify for the department of redundancy department?) It was lightly raining when we got to... Island Boobs! On the way to Mysterious Island, we were subjected to some nice views and a single thunder cloud! Though having an airplane in the parking lot was a bit odd. There were quite a few nice hotels in the area. It was another wonderful place. Last night, Elissa put us up in the fabulous Zhuhai Harbor Hotel.

More pics... Final inversion of "10 Inversion Coaster" and final pic of this update. We tried to hit a bonus park this day, but we were rained out. Fortunately, we got it in the next day, which you'll see in the next update. Thanks for looking. Purrdy! Their Splash battle ride. This is the Aussie chick that was in the show. The set was pretty damn big! World's largest? Could be. It was pretty big. It was pretty much a rip-off of every Universal stunt show ever done, all in one show. Ask Joey for details. Just proving that diseases spreads quickly. The "Spread the Malaria" splashdown ride. Yet another double-decker carousel. This is the "Lucky Shot" of the trip! Guy, you're welcome!! Lumberjack shows are always better when they have cheerleaders!! We opted to check out the lumberjack show. Entrance to one of the show stadiums that featured white tigers, Tunnel for second drop. Second drop. First drop. Some random "Dive Coaster" shots. If you stand in front of this sign too long, you will get "dabbled". If "Dabbled" means "so wet that a frogs a$$ can't stay dry" they're probably right. Right Bob?? You gotta love their signs! Elissa!! That's right!! A junior inverted whip. Guess who has this as her favorite ride??

More Pics... I found it odd, that in China (famous for taking credit for everyone else's originality) had this sign explaining how the "Immelman" came to be known. Random walkway picture. It just serves as a segway to the more pics coming later. Twister Coaster. Oh effen Joy. Rich held his ground and got the coveted front seat. Surprise, surprise. Look who's first in line for the kiddie coaster. Time to whore out the rest of the park. Yup. Half-Pipe. Whoop-de-do! "Puke Bags Available Upon Request!" Heading over to the "Half-Pipe" coaster. Proper translation: "Leave your crap here, and we'll steal it" KT is having a hard time getting out of the seat after her ride. The quickly approaching ground! Natasha looking at.... Two hot chicks, surrounded by the old and young Jeff's. The fairly simple station. Skimming across the water. Bottoming out on the first drop. Lift-hill shot. Pretty blue trains.

Back to normal now. So hopefully, I'll be more regular with the updates. This is "Day 6" when we went to Chimelong Paradise. Chimelong Paradise was a very nice park that reminded me of the Busch parks. Nicely landscaped, quite a few shows and a B&M Dive Coaster! As always, I took quite a few pictures. Let's see how this day went.... Next up was the "Dive Coaster" More pics shortly. Keep Smiling! Well, Bob and Ginny don't look too excited. Miles is just wearing his typical "hungover smile". OK. "Be a Brave Soldier", "Ride the High Speed Motorcycle" and "Fly Like an Eagle". WTF? Does it fly off the track or what? "Extremely Exciting?" Otay! Next up on the ERT schedule was the "Motorbike Launch Coaster". ... this one. Why am I so picked on? Elissa thought that this was the perfect shot for me. Until..... The original "Orgiastic Scream" This is one of the 10 inversions. If you know which one.... goody for you! Steve is busy trying to count the inversions. Unfortunately, he wasn't sober and didn't realize that most of them were behind him. Obligatory lift-hill shot. I really wouldn't think of leaving it behind! Typical Intamin trains. ERT on the aptly named "10 Inversion Coaster". Time for ERT, so in we go! Obligatory pic of the park map. The entrance to Chimelong Paradise. Cool Bridge. On the way to Chimelong, (through the fog) we could see what will be the world's tallest building, when it's completed in 2010. Before hitting the bus, Bob and I stocked up on necessities.

1. 3 2. Firefox 2.0.0.16 3. The video stream stalled a couple of times. 4. Yes

A differing opinion here. Having ridden all of the Intamin launched coasters (except Superman at Movieworld), I find them all to be ok, but somewhat incomplete, except for probably Stormrunner and Skycar. It's like they're missing something. Though I would imagine that Superman at movieworld would be the most enjoyable out of all of them due to it being more of a complete ride. But, for the launch alone, to me they rank like this: 1. Xcellerator 2. Stealth/Zaturn 3. Furious Baco 4. Dragster 4. Kingda Ka (hate the 3 "stages" of acceleration) 5. Stormrunner 6. Skycar 7. Desert Race/Rita 8. Speed monster 9. Kanonen As far as ranking them as complete enjoyable rides, I'd rank them: 1. Stormrunner (though I hate the braking on the downhill slope) 2. Skycar 3. Speed Monster (the setting helps) 4. Furious Baco (although I do have a love/hate it perception of this ride) 5. Xcellerator 6. Dragster 7. Kingda Ka 8. Stealth/Zaturn 9. Desert Race/Rita 10. Kanonen (too damn small to be worth it) JJ